I've never seen them in the $10-20 range.
I bought a digital when visiting the CIA in NY - paid about $20 for it; glad I didn't pay more.

sometime back they were selling off the beige/light brown ugly color at a decent discount (explained as "it's ugly, nobody wants this color, here's the color cheep) - tried to buy some but could not manage to navigate their site.

my standby is a dial analog Weston model 2261 - it has an 8" probe.
works like splendid for poultry and big roasts. it hasn't lost calibration in 20 years+, then again, it's not tossed / kept in the junk drawer - I drilled a hole in my knife block to keep it handy and properly cared for.

for some oddball reason I actually prefer the analog "see how fast the needle moves" in judging "is it soup yet?" and, put bluntly, the slower response of the analog eliminates the flashing number display making one wonder - gosh, what is the real temp....? the long probe is especially useful for sticking it in and then withdrawing it to check the "depth of temp profile" - a curious solution to the "did I hit a bone?" situation.

I took a cheesemaking class and the instructor was using a Comark PDT300 digital thermometer. It worked well in class so I bought one from Amazon for less than $20. Read time is about 5-7 seconds. Not as good as the Thermopen but great for the price. It also has the advantage of being waterproof. Handles temps from -58 to +300 so it can't be used for frying.

Infrared thermometers have migrated from the cold depths of the garage and workshops to find themselves as an indispensable part of the cooking process. They take all the guesswork out of the cooking process and will give us more time doing other important things, like eating and breathing.

I am looking for a review of an IR laser thermometer used for candy making. My old "clip on" candy thermometer has to be replaced, and I would like a multi-task thermometer we can also use outside the kitchen. Our query is this - will the IR laser thermometer accurately measure the different stages of syrup for candy making? Anyone tried this before?

I own the Thermapen MK4 and it was one of the best investments in my home kitchen. Before that I had used a cheaper thermometer but it always took ages until it settled for a correct temperature. Especially when the temperature was changing that was a big problem. I've also used a cheap chinese thermocouple (20 dollars on Amazon) which actually worked quite well! But with the cables it wasn't very practical.
A tip for all Thermapen users: in almost no case there's a need to have the temperature to 1/10 of 1 Fahrenheit. It's easy to change the setting to show whole numbers and the Thermapen will work even faster.

1) The sensing area is only the last 1/8 of an inch of the tip.
2) It takes a reading in 3 seconds.
3) It is accurately calibrated and comes with a certificate of performance within about 1 degree at 32 degrees and 212 degrees.
4) The battery lasts for thousands of hours.

I can put a steak in the pan and check near the top surface, near the bottom surface, and in the middle in about 10 or 15 seconds. Often this informs me if one side is too hot relative to the other side so I know when to flip it.

On any number occasions I have had more than one item in the pan which look exactly the same, and determine that one is done and the other needs to cook a little more.

There are many other cases that I find it very useful. I use it all the time, and also buy ones for gifts, which I might add are appreciated more than most gifts.

Also they are always improving the device. It now has back lighting control by whether there is not enough light to see if well, and the display rotates to vertical or sideways depending on the orientation of the device. It also goes to sleep when you set it down and wakes up when you pick it up, unless your turn it off by closing it.

The newest version which recently came out also has a build in infrared sensor for remote measuring of temperature.